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March 28, 2007

Babka for President!

Today’s Downsizer-Dispatch . . .

Subject: I am running for President

There is more to be said and done on the REAL ID Act. We were going to do that today, but we can’t. It’s been a tough month for paying the bills, so I must focus on that again this morning. Therefore . . .

In order to raise a fresh influx of funds for DownsizeDC.org I hereby announce that . . .

I, Jim Babka, am a candidate for President of the United States of America. Prepare to open your wallets!

There, that should do it.

Opps! Hold on. My lawyer is calling.

Oh! He informs me that I cannot legally divert money from an exciting, sexy, Presidential campaign to fund DownsizeDC.org (though he hastens to add that I am neither exciting nor sexy, but merely short).

Please hold on a moment while I ask him what I can legally do.

He informs me, in a strange tone of voice, that I can sing, or dance, or wash dishes, or go . . .

The line went dead.

Hhhmmm. That “line going dead” thing seems kind of metaphorical at the present moment.

Well, I’ll get over it. You know, all that mean stuff he said, it doesn’t really hurt me. After all, I have Presidential timber, even if I can’t run for President. And short, well that’s a relative thing isn’t it? Short? Compared to what?

Yes indeed, compared to what? To what should DownsizeDC.org be compared?

We well recognize that we are a new organization trying to do something new. I am reminded of a friend who once suggested to a postal worker that it would be good if they sold peel-off stamps. The postal worker looked at my friend as if he were an idiot, and said . . .

“If that was really a good idea, don’t you think they would have done it by now?”

Well, sometimes I feel like I’m being looked at as if I’m an idiot. What? Do you really think you’re going to get what you want from Congress just by asking for it? If that was really a good idea, don’t you think someone would have done it by now?

Indeed.

But you know, lots of things have been done by now, and honestly, not a lot has been accomplished by now. And it isn’t really just a matter of asking Congress for what we want. It’s a bit more involved than that, isn’t it? Don’t you think that . . .

* For ideas to triumph they must have more supporters than the ideas that oppose them?
* And must be heard more often and louder than the contrary view?

Isn’t that really what it’s all about? I certainly think so. And so I ask uncomfortable questions . . .

Are all the people who want to Downsise DC really likely to give up their current political parties and join together into one super-duper-downsizer-political party in order to rout the forces of Big Government at the ballot box?

Isn’t the answer obvious?

Isn’t it more likely, instead, that downsizers will more easily join together in a non-partisan organization like DownsizeDC.org, while retaining their old partisan loyalties?

And which is more likely to happen sooner, that we can recruit an overwhelming force to make our ideas overwhelmingly heard, and unavoidable by Congress, or that we will first elect a majority of downsizers to the House and Senate?

Some answers are obvious but take a while to see.

That’s why, when someone looks at me like I’m an idiot I’m tempted to inform them that the post office now sells peel-off stamps. They may not get it, but I do, and I know that with time, many others will too.

Time. It passes, no matter what we might prefer. And the time is passing even now. March 2007 has but three days left to live. We raised $1,287 yesterday. That means we need to raise another $2,586 to collect Steve Dasbach’s $1,000 matching pledge and make budget for March. Please help us by contributing HERE or I may decide to quit Downsize DC and run for President instead.

Don’t say you haven’t been warned. Babka for President!

Jim Babka
President
DownsizeDC.org

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